Solid Edge event series launches at Spaceship Earth

The Siemens VIP Center is in the base of Spaceship Earth at Disney's Epcot theme park in Orlando, Florida

Spaceship Earth, the iconic "giant golf ball" structure at the entrance to Disney’s Epcot theme park in Orlando, Florida was the launchpad for our "new trends in product development" Solid Edge event series that will travel around the USA and Canada over the next 4 months. In this event series we are bringing together both existing Solid Edge users and any manufacturers who are evaluating their technology strategy to discuss key trends that are impacting manufacturing industry, including mobile devices, 3D printing and 3D CAD.

For the Orlando event we were supported by our local channel partner Saratech and we had representatives from 3 manufacturing firms discuss how they are using Solid Edge to improve their business performance. Clayton Smith from the Cmith Manufacturing Company presented their radical approach to bicycle design; belt drives, roller bearings and stainless steel components are just some of their innovations. Bob Mileti from Trlby Innovative spoke about his use of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for mobile 3D design, giving some specific examples of customer "crises" that he was able to address quickly by having full access to his design projects wherever he is located. And Brian Brantley from Creative Sign Designs, a relatively new Solid Edge user spoke about how they selected Solid Edge to help speed their design projects for this fast growing architectural signage business.

Simon Floyd from Microsoft's Discrete Manufacturing Solutions team presented his thoughts on mobile design & engineering, setting the scene with data that shows that 66% of employees already use personal devices for work purposes, and 33% of employees frequently work away from their desks. He also presented details of the Surface Pro 3 that make it an excellent device for running full 3D CAD applications like Solid Edge, and enabling designers to integrate their 3D CAD solution with productivity applications including cameras, note capture and email.

Bill Dahl from Solidscape, a manufacturer of 3D printers had one of their 3Z series devices running and presented some interesting applications of their high precision component creation capabilities including jewelry and medical implant manufacturing. And technical staff from Siemens and Saratech presented some of the latest developments in Solid Edge ST7.

Spaceship Earth proved to be a great location for the event - even if you risked tripping over the occasional Disney princess or pirate in the lobby! If you are located in the USA or Canada check out the event schedule to see if we are coming to a city near you. An interesting promotion that we are running is that participants in this free event qualify for a 35% discount for Solid Edge University 2015. And you can check out the video below where two Solid Edge users give their impressions of the Orlando event.